Rev. Wright and 'Political Courage': Obama's Election Day Dark Cloud?

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," November 3, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Check your clocks. We are just hours away from Election Day, and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright is back in the news. Now, you remember that tape of his. Well, someone else was caught on tape. This time, it's a congressman, Jerry Nadler. He's a supporter of Senator Obama, but wait until you hear what Congressman Nadler said about Senator Obama and Reverend Wright. Yesterday, Congressman Nadler, a Democrat, was asked about Reverend Wright in a synagogue in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: Think of the history here. He's a guy who's half-white, half-black. He goes to an Ivy League school. He comes to Chicago to have (ph) a political career. (INAUDIBLE) doesn't know anybody, gets involved in community organizing. Why? Because that's how you form a base. OK. He joins the largest church in the neighborhood, about 8,000 members (INAUDIBLE) Why do you join the church? (INAUDIBLE) to get to know people. It's got 8,000 members, so you get to know people. You start (INAUDIBLE) Now (INAUDIBLE) couple of years, he starts to see (INAUDIBLE) This guy's a nut. He's like a lunatic. You don't walk out of a church with 8,000 members in your district.

(CROSSTALK)

NADLER: Do you hear what I'm saying? He didn't have the political courage to want to make the statement of walking out.

(CROSSTALK)

NADLER: Now, what does this tell me?

(CROSSTALK)

NADLER: What does it tell me? It tells me he wants (INAUDIBLE) because of his race. Does it tell me he agreed with the reverend in any way? No. It tells me he didn't want to walk out of a church in his district.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN SUSTEREN: Is Reverend Wright going to have an effect at the polls tomorrow? Joining us live is David Mark, senior editor for Politico.

David, Congressman Nadler, a Democrat, big supporter of Senator Obama -- you have this and what we're going to play later on in the show is a tape of Senator Clinton saying things about Senator McCain and Senator Obama. I mean, they're calling -- I mean, he's calling him -- doesn't have political courage. Can you say anything worse about a candidate?

DAVID MARK, POLITICO.COM: Well, with friends like this, who needs enemies in politics? Jerrold Nadler is saying what a lot of Barack Obama's critics have been suggesting for some time now.

VAN SUSTEREN: He's not his critics, though. This isn't a critic. This is someone who's on his team who says, you know, Vote for this man. This is a supporter. This is a congressman, a member of Congress, saying he doesn't have political courage.

MARK: Well, he's laying out the case, the precise case against Barack Obama, in that case.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are others saying that behind the scenes?

MARK: Oh, certainly. This is a classic political gaffe, he said what he meant. A lot of Democrats probably feel this way. But it doesn't help them to say it publicly.

VAN SUSTEREN: Yet they'll go out -- they'll go out and say, Vote for this guy, or their candidate. They'll say these terrible things. It's not like he said, I don't like him, the guy's got a bad personality, he has no sense of humor, or some -- he said he doesn't have political courage. Does that mean he doesn't have courage to stand up to other countries or -- and making hard decisions?

MARK: It meant he wanted the votes of people who sat in that church, and it was politically expedient to stay there for all those years, even when he must have known what was being said from the pulpit.

VAN SUSTEREN: You -- don't you see -- if I were Senator Obama, I'd be livid tonight, except for he has other, more pressing personal problems, which are terrible, on his plate tonight. But I mean, the idea -- I mean, to me, this is one of the worst blows a candidate can have, if his team thinks he lacks political -- I mean, political courage. Imagine that floating around Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida.

MARK: Well, if he loses Florida by a small margin, or any of these states, he might point to this episode and say, Hey, sure didn't help very much.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know if it it's run around Pennsylvania that Nadler, a supporter, is saying he lacks political courage because he didn't walk out on Jeremiah Wright? Is that -- is that making its rounds, or too late in the election cycle?

MARK: I think it is rather late. I think that the people most like who (ph) this motivate would be Republican -- conservative Republicans who maybe aren't that fond of John McCain but need a reason to get out to the polls. I don't think, at this late date, that Jeremiah Wright episode generally is going to make that much difference.

VAN SUSTEREN: It isn't so much Jeremiah Wright, it's that someone on his team says that he does not have political courage. I mean, that's the sort of -- you know and if you're undecided, sitting out there in Ohio or Pennsylvania tonight, looking for a reason not to vote for a candidate or to vote for one, I would think that that would be something that would be distressing.

MARK: It doesn't help, but it's pretty late in the game. A lot of people have voted early, so there -- it might not even affect a lot of the people who might not like it very much.

VAN SUSTEREN: David, thank you.

MARK: Thank you.

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